Colonel Alexander Zabin, MD was an American soldier from Malverne, Long Island, New York. As part of General Patton's 3rd Army, he served with the 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group. He landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day plus 1 and worked in the first US Army field hospital set up in France. He was with the 3rd Army through the campaigns in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Czechoslovakia. Dr. Zabin returned to New York in October 1945.
EXT, U.S. Army medical unit loads supplies onto trucks for transport. Snow on the ground; soldiers in winter gear, VS loading large wooden crates. VS, the convoy of medical unit trucks travels over difficult terrain, dirt and mud roads, etc. MS, a truck dumps a large amount of rubble onto a dirt road, soldiers [and possibly locals] shovel and level off the roads. LS, underexposed, supply trucks move along a road, mountains in BG. MS, captured German soldiers stand in line with their belongings, receive rations, interviewed by the liberating U.S. Army unit. Pan, several German soldiers look at the camera while others look away. MLS, the group from another angle, destroyed buildings in the BG. Traveling MLS of rows and rows of triangular shaped stone markers in the ground, in the FG are broken railway tracks. MCU, Col. Zabin standing in front of the markers, in combat uniform with his helmet in his hand. Buildings in the valley below, continuous pan of bombed out buildings and church. MCU, sign:"Prüm-Kreis Prüm-Reg Bez Trier" MS, Col. Zabin posing in front of an open truck with German soldiers and officers from the medical unit. From a moving vehicle, soldiers and/or refugees march along the road with their belongings on their backs (underexposed). VS of locals, soldiers, or refugees standing along the road, resting. Convoy of U.S. Army vehicles crossing a makeshift bridge across the Rhine River. LS, pan of the destroyed Rhine Bridge. VS, makeshift bridge and destroyed bridge. U.S. Army and locals remove fur coats from a warehouse. Scenes from Dachau in black and white. MCU, sign in German, skull and cross bones warning of danger - gas - on the metal door to a gas chamber, the door is slightly ajar, inside there is a camp inmate in a striped uniform. Above another door says:"BRAUSEBAD" MCU, stack of wooden coffins in the anteroom. MCU, bodies. INT, MS, underexposed shot of a pan of inmates' barracks at the concentration camp. VS, inmates in the hospital ward of the camp, some have their heads bandaged, some are standing, some lie in cots, most look directly at the camera, there are men and women, young and old. MCU, inmates in striped uniforms pose for the camera. In color, a dead body is floating face up in the Wuerm River. LS, the river and liberated camp inmates, standing behind a wire fence, outside of their barracks. MS, dead bodies, female, lying in the grass near the river's edge. VS, Dachau camp, pan of buildings, American flag flying atop one of the buildings, LS, high angle view of the main camp courtyard, many people milling about, the camera continues to pan, until the confines of the camp at the edge of the river. EXT, pan of railcars, open, full of dead bodies. U.S. soldiers, roll call in an open field, there are men and women. Festival in Czechoslovakia. MCU, toddler in traditional Czech costume poses shyly for the camera. MS, young men playing volleyball in an open field, spectators in the FG. LS, men playing soccer, many spectators. MS, group of Czech folk dancers in traditional costume perform for the crowds. LS, city street, Col. Zabin exits a building and crosses the street, heading toward the camera. Col. Zabin near the banks of a river, he takes off his shirt and sits down to relax, he speaks with the cameraman. VS, Col. Zabin near the river's edge, he rolls up his pants and begins walking on rocks in the river.
Liberation of Dachau; Folk Festival in Czechoslovakia